Chan School grad is on a mission for environmental justice
This is one in a series of profiles showcasing some of Harvard’s stellar graduates. When Saamon Legoski sees something wrong, he feels compelled to make it right. Last year, for example, while working as a behavioral specialist and staff sergeant for the U.S. Army in Kuwait, he helped several of his peers and soldiers come forward with allegations of sexual violence. A formal investigation substantiated the allegations, he said, and the accused sergeant was discharged from the Army. “I’ve learned to be disruptive in a positive way,” said Legoski. These days, as a student in Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s M.P.H.-45 program, he’s focused on redressing the wrongs that arise when people, because of race, national origin, or income, are treated unfairly with respect to environmental laws and policies. He said it riles him that underprivileged neighborhoods are often the most polluted, that tax credits for electric cars predominantly benefit the wealthy,...